Hybrid Friendly Bills in CT State Legislature Need Your Support

[danatt]

There are currently a number of bills that have recently (this month) been introduced in the CT State General Assembly that support the promotion of hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles. They have been sent to various committees for review. It is important that we make our support for these bills known to our legislators or it is likely that many of these will die in committee.

I have listed some of these bills below, organized by the committee to which they have been sent for review. For each bill I have also given the link that you can use to get a description of the bill and to track its status if you are interested.

At the end of this post I have provided some text for a short message that you can send to the chair persons of each of the committees, and to your local legislators to express your support for these bills. The text is provided for your convenience. Please modify as you see fit.

You can find e-mail addresses for your legislators by using this link. Just go down the list to your town, then click on your House District and Senate District to find your legislators.
http://www.cga.ct.gov/maps/townlist.asp

Bills referred to Joint Committee on Environment:
HB-5281 HOV Lane Access for Single Occupant Hybrid and Alternative Fuel Vehicles
http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cg...amp;SUBMIT1.y=3
SB-19 Mandate for Fuel Efficiency for Vehicles Sold in CT
http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cg...amp;SUBMIT1.y=7
SB-23 Alternative Fuel Corridors
http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cg...amp;SUBMIT1.y=4
SB-24 Incentives for Individuals Purchasing Alternative or Flex-Fuel Vehicles
http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cg...amp;SUBMIT1.y=3
SB-25 State Fleet Fuel Efficiency and Alternative Fuel Requirements
http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cg...amp;SUBMIT1.y=9

Bills referred to Joint Committee on Transportation:
HB-5782 HOV Access for Single Occupant Hybrid and Alternative Fuel Vehicles
http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cg...mp;SUBMIT1.y=14
HB-5921 Optional municipality tax abatement for vehicles with 40 mpg or greater
http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cg...mp;SUBMIT1.y=10
SB-318 Optional municipality tax abatement for vehicles with 40 mpg or greater
http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cg...mp;SUBMIT1.y=12
HB-5785 State Fleet Fuel Efficiency and Alternative Fuel Requirements
http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cg...amp;SUBMIT1.y=6
HB-5316 Extension of Sales Tax Exemption for Fuel Efficient Vehicles
http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cg...amp;SUBMIT1.y=6

Bills referred to Joint Committee on Energy and Technology:
HB-6203 Optional municipality tax abatement for vehicles with 40 mpg or greater
http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cg...mp;SUBMIT1.y=11
SB-520 Optional municipality tax abatement for vehicles with 40 mpg or greater
http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cg...amp;SUBMIT1.y=5

Co-Chair Persons for the Joint Committee on Environment:
Senator Bill Finch - mailto:Finch@senatedems.ct.gov
Representative Richard Roy - mailto:Richard.Roy@cga.ct.gov

Co-Chair Persons for the Joint Committee on Transportation:
Senator Donald J. DeFronzo - mailtoeFronzo@senatedems.ct.gov
Representative Antonio Guerrera - mailto:Tony.Guerrera@cga.ct.gov

Co-Chair Persons for the Joint Committee on Energy and Technology:
Senator John W. Fonfara - mailto:Fonfara@senatedems.ct.gov
Representative Steve Fontana - mailto:Steve.Fontana@cga.ct.gov

Sample text for message to send to committee chair persons and your local legislators:
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Dear Senator XXXXXX or Representative XXXXXX:

Vehicle use is the primary source of consumption of petroleum products in this country. Our nation's dependence on petroleum poses serious national security, economic, and environmental risks. We should be doing whatever we can at the state level to promote the use of alternative sources of energy for vehicles.

For this reason I am writing to you to urge you to support the following bills which have recently been introduced and referred to various committees for review. All of the bills listed below promote the acceptance and growth of fuel efficient and alternative fuel vehicle technologies.

SB-19 Mandating Fuel Efficiency for Vehicles Sold in CT
SB-23 in Support of Alternative Fuel Corridors
SB-24 Incentives for Individuals Purchasing Alternative or Flex-Fuel Vehicles
SB-25, HB-5785, & HB-6250, in Support of Fuel Efficiency and Alternative Fuel Requirements for State Fleet Vehicles
HB-5281 & HB-5782 in Support of HOV Lane Access for Single Occupant Hybrid and Alternative Fuel Vehicles
SB-318, SB-520, HB-5921, & HB-6203 in Support of Optional Municipality Tax Abatement for Vehicles with Greater than 40 mpg
HB-5316 to Extend the Sales Tax Exemption for Fuel Efficient Vehicles

In conjunction with the activity on the bills listed above I urge you to devote careful consideration to emerging "Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle" (PHEV) technologies which have the potential to dramatically reduce petroleum consumption.

Please do everything you can to ensure the passage of these bills into law. I will be anxiously monitoring their progress.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

XXXXXXXX
your town
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It can't hurt to send this to the governor's office as well:
mailto:Governor.Rell@po.state.ct.us